Senate HR Committee takes notice of ban on ‘Zindagi Tamasha’

Two months on, the fate of Sarmad Khoosat’s Zindagi Tamasha still hangs in limbo as the government is yet to decide whether the film can be released or not. The film, which was scheduled to hit screens on January 25, was stopped from being released days before its release after the federal and provincial governments feared public unrest.

While the Federal Government had said that the film will be reviewed by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), the Punjab Government directed the filmmaker to hold a screening on February 3 so that the film can be reviewed again. However, the screening has not taken place as yet. It is pertinent to mention here that the provincial and central censor boards had earlier cleared the film for release with a few cuts.

Read more – Council of Islamic Ideology to ‘critically review’ ‘Zindagi Tamasha’

As governing bodies are still to decide the future of the film, Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokar took to social media to announce that the Human Rights Committee has taken notice of the matter and will be reviewing the film.

HR comte took notice of banning of movie zindagi tamasha. Surprised to find that it was cleared twice but still banned! We directed that screening for CII should b held in abeyance till Commitee views&decides whether there’s something objectionable in it or not. pic.twitter.com/WEklGLswjK

— Mustafa Nawaz Khokar (@Mustafa_PPP) March 11, 2020

Earlier, Sarmad had also appealed to the Prime Minister, President, Chief of Army Staff and the Chief Justice of Pakistan to facilitate the release of the film.

میں بھی پاکستان ہوں
An open letter to:@ImranKhanPTI@ArifAlvi #Chiefjusticeofpakistan #Chiefofthearmystaffpakiatan#ministerofinformationpakistan@DanyalGilani #censorboardofpakistan #ZindagiTamasha #pakistanicinema pic.twitter.com/D10lS1V1gw

— Sarmad Khoosat (@KhoosatSarmad) January 16, 2020

Written by Nirmal Bano and directed by Sarmad Khoosat, Zindagi Tamasha starres Arif Hassan, Samiya Mumtaz, Eman Suleman and Ali Qureshi in the lead. The film is centred around a naat khwan Rahat Khawaja (played by Hassan) and his family who are outcast from the society when a secret of Khawaja’s is leaked.

The official synopsis states: “The film is an intimate portrait of a family as well as a scorching political commentary on little gods on this earth who police our private passions.”

Read more – Sarmad Khoosat says the ‘film/TV fraternity’ is a joke

The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival held in October 2019 where it also won the prestigious Kim Ji Seok Award.

Watch trailer:

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